At issue was halving lawmaker pay, which according to (Sen. Jim) Inhofe, could lead to an independently wealthy Congress run by “Rockefellers and people like that, many of whom don’t really have the sensitivities to the real world.”

According to Perry supporter Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), we might already be there.
“With campaign finance reform laws being the way they are now, with McCain-Feingold, you’re almost moving to that anyway because it’s so hard to raise money that you almost have moved to a situation where there is a political class that runs,” he said.

Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) echoed the sentiment.

“That’s a danger even right now,” she said. “Many people here, they don’t need any salary. Let’s face it, they are independently wealthy; everybody is not.”

That viewpoint is further corroborated by a study released this week by the Center for Responsive Politics, which found that 47 percent of Congressional lawmakers are millionaires.

“You know the old saying in Texas?” Cornyn wondered. “We have a legislature that meets for 140 days every two years, but many Texans believe it ought to be two days ever 140 years.”
Texans believe in limited government “and see Washington as the antithesis to limited government” by expanding government responsibilities, consuming more taxpayer dollars and “intruding even more on our individual liberties and our rights,” Cornyn said, echoing some of Perry’s anti-Washington themes.
But the idea of becoming a part-time senator after eight years in office didn’t sit well with Cornyn.
“I believe representing 25 million people (in Texas) is a pretty big job,” Cornyn told reporters.